Hornsby Pacific Education Trust

Newsletter September 2015

From Rachel and Simon Tipping

We arrived to find the school in very good shape! The grounds and
gardens are the best we ever seen them, and many people have been
commenting on the appearance of the school. Thanks are due to Robin and Cheryl
Fleming for some great improvements in the landscaping, and the Senior Mistress,
Naimila Mafi, who does a great job in keeping the grounds tidy and attractive
(see attached photo). Robin was DP of King’s College for many years before
coming over here for six weeks towards the end of last year to help the school
and mentor the principal.

The classrooms are also looking good. A
large number of volunteers have been involved in upgrading them over the past
three years, and most of the teachers are taking a pride in the appearance of
their rooms, decorating them in various ways and keeping them clean and tidy.

The principal, Mo’unga Maka, and his
leadership team have made great strides in the past couple of years, and huge
thanks are due not only to Robin Fleming for his mentoring, but also to Kay Hawk,
who travels over here two or three times a year to work with the school
leadership, teachers and board. Kay donates her time at the school.
Thank you to those of you who contribute to her travel costs. Notice boards put
up by Robin are in daily use, and are constantly checked by students and staff.

There is some good teaching happening
here now, and last year’s exam results were the best the school has had for
years. Form 6 is the largest we’ve ever known, and quite a number of the senior
students plan to do a Form 7 year at Tonga High School (the top Government
school). Three of last year’s Form 6 are there this year, one being supported
through your donations.

Volunteers who were involved in
creating the new school kitchen and also the new classroom under the library
will be pleased to know that both are looking great. Hingano, the Home
Economics teacher, has decorated both the kitchen and the adjoining room with
bright curtains, and reigns over the rooms with great pride (see attached
photo). Sister Fehoko loves her modern classroom next to the main office (see
photo of our volunteer Sarah teaching in there).

Those who helped in creating the new
computer room, and indeed the generous donors of all the computers and new server,
would be delighted to see them all in constant use, both in the new classroom
and in the staffroom.

Volunteers who worked in the library
will be pleased to hear that apart from some tidying up which had to be done,
it was and is looking good, with a better selection of books, including text
books brought over by King’s College this year.

And those who were involved in the
major drainage project last year will be delighted to know that in the recent
several days of very heavy rain, the drains and pump performed immaculately,
and there was no major flooding around the school – what a difference to how
things have been in the past!

The piggery at the school plantation is
flourishing, so much so that Ma’ake, the Agriculture teacher, has had to extend
it, building two new rows of pens, very much in Tongan style! The double water
system Simon and volunteers put in over the last two years is working well, collecting
rainwater and also bringing up water from the well.

We have had just four volunteers working
with us here for the past three weeks, partly because we felt all the major
projects had been done, and partly because we personally felt the need to be a
little more low-key this year. All four had been twice before and were very
familiar with things here, and were able to get stuck in straight away. Eddy
with his mechanical skills worked wonders with the school truck, which is still
sporting the new tyres bought for it last year by generous volunteers. Our two
electricians, Robert and John, swung into action connecting power to the music room
(a free-standing prefab), and then fixing a series of electrical problems in
various parts of the school. Our fourth volunteer, Sarah, kept us fed, as well
as taking some classes for Sister Fehoko, who has been in NZ for the past month
on study leave. We deeply appreciate the sacrifice they all made in coming over
here at their own expense to give their time and expertise to the school, and
the wonderful contribution they all made to improving conditions here (see
attached photos to see them all at work).

We have also been blessed with the help
of two palangi women volunteers living here temporarily to help with reading
recovery groups. I have joined them two days a week and between us we have been
seeing over 50 students a week. (Attached photo shows NZer Helen Kerr, wife of
the locum pharmacist at the Mission Clinic, working with one of the students).

Simon has been busy finishing off the
last painting job – the upper storey of the main school building. To reach the
heights, he built a huge scaffolding tower, which is moved around daily by a
small army of boys (see two attached photos). Alongside this is the replacement
of the pigeon-wire to keep the birds out of the roof space above the flat we
stay in.

We already have plans for a major
project next year, which is a further assault on the school toilets. The toilet
and shower block were renovated three years ago but the toilets themselves were
not replaced. Due partly to the build up of lime scale which comes through the local
water system, and partly to age, they are almost all unusable, with only one
being available for use by all 450 students. So if anyone is feeling brave, let
us know, as Simon could do with a bit of help!!

Before we arrived in July, the school
was visited again by a group of students and chaplains from King’s College,
Auckland. This was the third visit by a group from King’s. We are very encouraged
and touched by their ongoing support for St Andrew’s. This year they took over
the arrangements for shipping the container, filling it with resources for the school
which they had collected. Many of these resources were paid for by St Andrew’s,
Epsom, and also by some of you – thank you for supporting this particular need
so generously.

The visit by the party from King’s was
a huge success and a little different this year in that they were involved in
the Coronation festivities – definitely a unique experience for them – and were
billeted for part of their stay by St Andrew’s student families. This was very
successful and will be repeated next year.

We are hugely appreciative of all the
support which King’s College continues to give St Andrew’s. One of the school’s
most outstanding students, Posesi Fanua, is now at King’s on a full boarding
scholarship for his final two years of secondary schooling, and we hear that he
is flourishing, and a great ambassador for St Andrew’s. Thank you to those of
you who have contributed to his additional expenses – flights, uniform, books
etc.

A great thrill for us on our return in
July was to see the work being done at the school by Kaveinga Vaka, the former
head prefect who spent last year in Wellington, studying at Onslow College,
taking private trumpet lessons, and singing in the Orpheus Choir. Even while
still at school he was obviously a born leader, and he has great presence
standing in front of the school.

The day after we arrived, we attended
the 3-day interschool brass band contest which the St Andrew’s band had never
been good enough to enter before. We were blown away by the standard of the St
Andrew’s band, as were many others. They ended up winning three awards, and
coming a very close second in their grade. (For anyone used to the standards of
the Big Sing National Finale in NZ, we can tell you that the standard of school
brass bands in Tonga is very nearly on the same level).

The band continued to perform over the
next few weeks for a number of different events, including the visit of the
Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu. On each occasion Kaveinga impressed us
with his total control of the situation and his meticulous preparation of the
band. So to all those of you who supported his year in NZ, a huge thank you, particularly
Katherine Hodge and Justin Pearce at Onslow College, Rev Maurice Dagger and the
parish of St Michael’s Newlands who embraced Kaveinga into their church family,
Wellington Cathedral for their support, Judy Berryman and other members of the
Orpheus Choir for providing Kaveinga with the most amazing musical experiences
ranging from Beethoven’s Ninth to Carmina Burana. (The attached photo shows
Kaveinga conducting the school band, with the Archbishop of York and the school
principal Mo’unga Maka in the foreground, and Archbishop Winston looking on).

When we arrived this year, refurbishing
and equipping his new music room became a priority (see attached photo for the
state it was in when we arrived). With the help of volunteers over the past
three years, the staff room, library, computer suite, science labs, kitchen,
home economics room, art room and all other classrooms have been refurbished,
but the music room hadn’t been done. It is still far from perfect, but it does
at least have electricity connected (thanks to this year’s volunteer
electricians), and two store rooms fitted out to keep all the brass instruments
safe, along with the keyboards, ukuleles, guitars, music etc which have been
donated over the last few years. Katherine and Justin at Onslow College have
been wonderfully helpful in emailing music syllabus information, and Judy has
bought a supply of manuscript books and other equipment with funds donated for
school resources, and this is on its way over at this very minute.

On Archbishop Winston Halapua’s recent
visit to the school, two beautiful wooden candlesticks which had been fashioned
by Rev Rory Redmayne out of timber from the demolished St Mary’s Merivale
Church were presented to the school, and blessed by the Bishop (see attached
photo). Shortly afterwards, we farewelled Archdeacon Joe and Anne Le’ota who
have been great friends of the school during their three years of ministry
here.

On a financial note, we have just
received the good news that the Hornsby Trust has been granted donee status to
be effective from next April, which means that donations will be eligible for
tax rebates. While still keen to provide money for school fees for those
students whose families can’t afford to pay them, we would also like to provide
financial support for talented school-leavers to pursue further education. We
feel strongly that this is a chance to “make a difference” not just to them,
but to others who will benefit from their education.

Kaveinga is one example, and we are
also paying, through your donations, the fees of a young woman who left school
at the end of last year and is now attending the Catering and Hospitality
Course at ‘Ahopanilolo, and doing extremely well. Another young man, Halatoa,
whom we will be supporting next year in attending a building course at the
local technical college, will be remembered by many of our volunteers for his
faithfulness in working alongside them all day every day for weeks, over the
past three years.

Students whose fees you have paid this
year have been busy writing their thank-you letters in the past week, and we
hope you will receive them before long. Apologies that their letters will reach
you later this year, but in past years the King’s College students have helped
the Tongan students with them, but we weren’t here to organise it this year!).

Thank you for all your support for us
and for St Andrew’s in so many ways – as volunteers, financial supporters, pray-ers
and encouragers. Although we continue to have moments when we tear our hair out
with frustration, we really can see that the school has made great strides,
particularly over the past two or three years, and we thank you for being a
part of making this progress possible.

We are particularly grateful for the
support we and the school have been receiving from individual Anglicans and
Anglican parishes in NZ. Anglicans account for only 5% of the population in
Tonga, and there is no framework of support for the school here. The biggest
church by far is the Wesleyan Church which, with the support of the Uniting
Church in Australia which sends volunteers over each year to work in their
schools, has a large educational institute equipped with advisors and other
staff, and substantial financial resources. The Mormon Church schools are
supported from America and are well resourced with trained teachers from the
States. So St Andrew’s is considerably disadvantaged compared with other church
schools.